Chirp tried his chop!

[taxidermynerd]

Hi everyone!

Today I made chop for my budgie, Chirp! I put broccoli, green beans, green bell pepper, carrots, acorn squash (steamed) and a little bit of steamed sweet potato in there.

During the process, I offered him little bits of carrot and broccoli. He seems to at least recognize them as food, which is good. A little bit ago I put about half of it into ice cube trays to freeze, and the rest is in the fridge until the chop is done freezing and the trays are empty.

I offered some of it on my finger to Chirp, and he ate some of it! He seems to like the broccoli and carrots, but he wasn't a big fan of the sweet potato and acorn squash (I had a little set aside). Honestly, I'm just glad he'll eat veggies!

I'm gonna start trying to switch him over from a seed/pellet mix to mostly chop, with other fresh stuff, and nuts and seeds every now and again as a treat. What techniques should I try? I don't wanna switch him over cold-turkey (or cold parakeet, as it were), I'm worried I'd starve him. I might be getting a new cage for him soon (just as long as his current one, which is pretty good size, and almost twice as high), so I might try having seeds/pellets in the lower bowl and chop and other fresh stuff in the higher one. Let me know what worked for you guys!

Thanks in advance.

 

[WendyN]

Welcome to the forum!
They will be many who can give you some guidance.

 

[Animallover03]

 

[taxidermynerd]

Thanks for the warm welcome, guys! However, if someone could answer my questions that'd be great!

 

[Grace]

I think for most people, it would be difficult to provide a balanced diet with mostly chop, especially for the smaller birds like budgies. To be balanced, you would need correct proportions of beans and grains as well as vegetables and fruit. Veggie only chop would be deficient in protein and fat. For that reason, I personally am aiming for 1/3 seeds, 1/3 pellets and 1/3 veggies. I am feeding two budgies and one parrotlet. I used to have a Senegal. For him, I fed 50% pellets, 10% seed and 40 % veggies and fruit.

You will find an amazing diversity of opinions on feeding birds well and very few absolutes. To make it more complicated, it isn't just offering a balanced diet but making sure they eat all the components of it that is so difficult.